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Blossom's Joey Background: American award-winning actor and recording singer Joseph Lawrence, also credited as Joey or Joe Lawrence, was shot to stardom at age 14 thanks to his role as the intellectually clueless Joey Russo, whose catch-line was a trimmed “Whoa!,” on the NBC popular series “Blossom” (1990-1995). The role brought the actor a Young Artist Award as well as established a reputation as one of top teen idols in America. He translated the success into a hit album in 1993 which produced the worldwide hit single “Nothin' My Love Can't Fix.” Before “Blossom,” Lawrence was recognized for playing a precocious orphan named Joey Donovan on the Nell Carter successful vehicle “Gimme a Break!” (1983-1987), from which he collected three Young Artist nominations. He also netted Young Artist nominations for his work in his feature debut, “Summer Rental” (1985), “ABC Afterschool Specials: Don't Touch” (1985), “Adventures in Babysitting” (1989) and “Chains of Gold” (1991). In a more recent time, television audiences know him as Micheal Brooks on the NBC drama series “American Dreams” (2002-2003), Kurt Franklin on the WB's sitcom “Run of the House” (2003-2004), Brett Mahoney on UPN's “Half & Half”(2005-2006) as well as Billy Flynn on three episodes of “CSI: NY.” (2007). He also gained prominence through his performance on the season three of ABC's well-known show “Dancing With the Stars” (2006), in which he and dance partner Edyta Sliwinska finished in the third place. Lawrence's fans should not miss his awesome acting on the two upcoming films “Killer Pad” (2007) and “Together Again for the First Time” (2007). Off camera, the 5' 7” performer was named one of People Magazine's “50 Most Beautiful People in the World” in May 1994. He was ranked No. 25 on TV Guide's list of “TV's 25 Greatest Teen Idols” in 2005 and once named one of VH1's “100 Greatest Kid Stars.” He shares a birthday with Lara Jill Miller, his cast mate in “Gimme a Break!” On a more personal note, Lawrence has been married twice. He divorced from first wife Michelle Vella in 2004, after having been married for two years. He and current wife Chandie Yawn-Nelson, whom he married in 2005, have a daughter named “Charli” (born in 2006). Lawrence once dated actresses Katherine Heigl and Kellie Martin.
Lawrence Brothers
Childhood and Family: Joseph Lawrence Mignogna Jr. was born on April 20, 1976, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to Joseph Lawrence Mignona Sr., an insurance broker, and Donna, a personal manager. His family's last name was changed to “Lawrence” when Joseph was still a child. He has two younger brothers, Andrew Lawrence (born on January 12, 1988) and Matthew Lawrence (born on February 11, 1980), both of whom are actors. Joseph graduated from Abington Friends School in 1994 and then attended the University of Southern California in Los Angeles. On August 24, 2002, Joseph was married to ex-producer Michelle Vella, but they divorced in 2004. He next married Chandie Yawn-Nelson on July 3, 2005, whom he met on vocation at Disney World when they were teenagers. The couple welcomed a 7-pound, 7-ounce baby girl named Charleston “Charli” Lawrence on May 10, 2006.
Nothin' My Love Can't Fix
Career: “'Donny and Marie' was the first show on TV that I really was into. I watched it every week when I was about three or four years old. Watching Donny sing and dance made me realize that I wanted to be a performer, too. I was watching someone on TV doing what I wanted to do.” Joseph Lawrence Joseph Lawrence had his first taste of showbiz at age 3 when he began appearing in local commercials. He soon made a leap to national commercials and “The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson ,” in which he performed the song “Give My Regards to Broadway” on a 1982 episode of the late-night show. He went on to make TV movie debut in “Scamps” (1982), opposite Bob Denver, and acted in episodic shows like “Diff'rent Strokes” and “Silver Spoons” (both 1982). Lawrence, however, did not receive his first break until he made his television series debut and was cast as Joey Donovan on the popular NBC sitcom “Gimme a Break!” (1981-1987), starring Nell Carter. He played the intelligent orphan from 1983 to 1987 and was nominated for three consecutive Young Artist for Best Young Supporting Actor in a Television Comedy Series from 1985 to 1987. In 1985, Lawrence broke into the big screen when he landed a supporting role as the son of John Candy and Karen Austin in the adventure “Summer Rental,” directed by Carl Reiner. The role brought the young actor a Young Artist nomination for Exceptional Performance by a Young Actor in Motion Picture. The same year, he also netted a Young Artist nomination for his fine supporting turn as Mattie in “ABC Afterschool Specials: Don't Touch,” opposite Kelly Wolf, John Glover and Lisa Bonet. Lawrence returned to film three years later playing David Rockland, a boy fighting an electrical force attempting to take over his home in director-writer Paul Golding's “Pulse” (1988). Among his costars in the sci-fi/thriller were Cliff De Young, Roxanne Hart and Matthew Lawrence. Later that same year, he debuted as a voice actor with the Disney animated feature “Oliver & Company,” providing the voice of the kitten Oliver, before closing out the decade with a bright turn as Brad Anderson in a TV pilot called “Adventures in Babysitting” (1989), from which he was handed a 1990 Young Artist nomination for Best Young Actor Starring in a TV Movie, Pilot or Special. A promising young star, Lawrence's popularity reached its peak during the early- through mid-1990s when he starred as Joey Russo in the NBC hit sitcom “Blossom,”opposite Mayim Bialik as Blossom Russo, Michael Stoyanov as Anthony Russo and Ted Wass as Nick Russo. As a dim-witted young man who often uttered the phrase “WHOA!,” Lawrence emerged as one of the top teen idols in Hollywood and won a 1993 Young Artist for Outstanding Young Comedian in a Television Series. Riding high on his success, the multi-talented artist released a debut album in 1993 called “Joey Lawrence,” which was produced by such big names as Terry Lupton, Elliot Wolff, Ian Price and Teddy Riley. The album spawned the international hit single “Nothin' My Love Can't Fix,” which peaked at No. 19 in the U.S and No. 13 in the U.K., and two UK Top 50 hits, “"I Can't Help Myself” and “Stay Forever.” Meanwhile, Lawrence stayed busy working on many other projects. He portrayed a drug-dealing teen saved by John Travolta's alcoholic-turned-social worker on “Chains of Gold” (1991), from which Lawrence picked up a Young Artist nomination for Best Young Actor Starring in a Cable Special, made a nice cameo appearance as a singer performing Irving Berlin's classic “What'll I Do” in the comedy film “Radioland Murders” (1994), starred as Ralph Bitondo/Ricky Prince in the NBC TV film “Prince for a Day” (1995) and supplied vocal for Disney's “A Goofy Movie” (also 1995). Besides, he made guest appearances in several TV shows like “Almost Home” (1993), “Empty Nest” (1993) and “ The John Larroquette Show” (1995). After “Blossom” ended, Lawrence was hired by NBC to star with his brothers, Matthew and Andrew, on the sitcom “Brotherly Love” (1995), but it was canceled after a season. Thanks to the tyro The WB network, the show was put back on the air as an addition to its Sunday night line-up. In addition to acting, Lawrence also made his directing debut with episode of the sitcom. In 1996, he rejoined his brothers for the ABC Western/adventure “Brothers of the Frontier.” Lawrence next took a break from acting to resume his singing career. His second album, “Soulmates,” hit the music store in the following year. Although it was not a major financial success, it did produce two singles with the songs “Never Gonna Change My Mind” and “Ven Ven Conmigo.” While the first song became a moderate Rhythmic/Dance format radio hit, the latter was considered a minor radio hit. Returning to acting, Lawrence took on the role of Darby in the indie-comedy “Desperate But Not Serious” (1999), starring Christine Taylor, starred as Johnny Orpheus on Tony Shyu's “Tequila Body Shots” (1999) as well as acted with brother Andrew in the drama/family television film “Horse Sense” (1999). The same year, he also could be found in episodes of “Touched by an Angel” and “Recess.” He continued to play roles in such films the crummy horror film “Urban Legends: Final Cut” (2000), as Graham Manning, the small-budget thriller “Do You Wanna Know a Secret?” (2001), costarring with Michael Sarysz and Dorie Barton, and the thriller “Pandora's Box” (2002). He also acted in the TV movies “Romantic Comedy 101” (2001) and “Jumping Ship” (2001). Following a series of dumb TV films and unmemorable film roles, Lawrence's career revived when in 2002 he landed a recurring role on the promising NBC drama “American Dreams” (2002-2005), about a 15-year-old girl (played by Brittany Snow) when she pursues her dream of being on American Bandstand. The actor played Micheal Brooks, a producer for the celebrated dance show, in 11 episodes until 2003. He followed it up by making a return to regular series work on The WB's “Run of the House,” starring as Kurt Franklin. The sitcom ran for a season from 2003 to 2004. In early 2005, Lawrence found himself acting with Jennifer Love Hewitt on the television film “Confessions of a Sociopathic Social Climber, ” where he was cast as the gay crony of a driven young ad executive decided to do anything to climb the corporate ladder. He then portrayed an android named DeeCee on the sci-fi/thriller “Android Apocalypse” (2006, TV), supported Chad Allen and Jeff Conaway in the horror film “The Pool 2” (2006), and had a recurring role as Brett Mahoney on the nine episodes of the UPN comedy series “Half & Half” (2005-2006). In September 2006, Lawrence joined ten other celebrities to compete in the third season of the ABC popular show “Dancing With the Stars.” Along with his professional dance partner Edyta Sliwinska, he continued to impress audiences until they were voted off of the show on November 8, 2006, coming in the third place. From April to May 2007, Lawrence could be found playing Clay Dobson on three episodes of the CBS hit show “CSI: NY.” He recently made his Broadway debut in the revival of “Chicago,” as Billy Flynn. The 31-year-old actor currently has completed filming two films. He will play Joey in the comedy/horror “Killer Pad” (2007), starring Daniel Franzese, Eric Jungmann and Shane McRae and directed by Robert Englund. He is also scheduled to play Carey Krzyznyk, a supporting role on the based-on-play “Together Again for the First Time” (2007) for director Jeff Parkin.
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